


Waiting in the Hospital

by secreterces5



Series: Sweet comfort from a sour earl 🍋 [1]
Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Mental Health Issues, could be considered, or maybe, reassurance, this is not romantic in any way, you just happened to meet Lemongrab in the hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22324702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secreterces5/pseuds/secreterces5
Summary: You finally decided to go visit a psychologist. As you’re waiting in the hospital, you get anxious. Luckily, someone with experience offers a few words of comfort.
Relationships: implied Lemongrab/Lumpy Space Princess
Series: Sweet comfort from a sour earl 🍋 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617742
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	Waiting in the Hospital

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for myself, honestly.

You sigh, gripping onto the armrests tightly in an attempt to not freak out any more than you already have. The people passing by in the Candy Kingdom Hospital don’t notice, but you’re shaking.

_It’s okay,_ you try to tell yourself. It’s okay, you need this, you need to be here, you need to sort this mess out.

It doesn’t work in the slightest. Instead, the self-doubt follows the onset of panic, what’s the point, you don’t need this, you’ll be fine on your own, it’s just mild anxiety, everyone cries themselves to sleep once in a while, right?

Shaking your head, you unclench your fists, trying to catch your breath. _No, stop. This is exactly why I’m here._

But your inner stupid gremlin voice immediately counters this. _Is it? Or am I just an attention seeker? Maybe I don’t really have problems, maybe I’m just desperate for attention. Maybe I faked it so well I convinced myself. Oh Glob, I’m a horrible person–_

“Hello,” someone says suddenly and you jump and yelp, abruptly interrupted from your self-loathing.

Turning your head, you find a familiar face with yellow skin and a pointy nose sitting next to you. You try to stand up so you can greet him properly, but your body betrays you, for whatever reason you’re limp, unable to force yourself to stand up. And geez, you’re shaking even more now. Great.

“ ᴳᵒᵒᵈ ⁻“ Your voice is strained and barely a whisper, so you take a few breaths and try again. Great, at this point you’re probably wasting his time. “Good afternoon, Your Highness,” you nod, greeting the Earl of Lemongrab, who, for whatever reason, is sitting right next to you in a hospital. Why would he be here, of all places? If he was injured he’d go to his own hospital, wouldn’t he?

The earl hums in discontent, _fantastic, you piece of garbage,_ you think to yourself, _now you’ve become an annoyance to a royal._ _What a great first step on curing your depression, if that even is your real problem._ But the lemon candy man just says: “I mostly call myself Lemongrab nowadays. Actually all days. I was always Lemongrab in the past, and am also Lemongrab in the present. I am him. Mmmmyes.”

“Oh. Well... sorry, Lemongrab,” you apologize, looking anywhere but at him and sliding lower on your chair, like it could swallow you whole if you tried hard enough.

“Are you okay?”

Your eyes widen at the question. It’s full of genuine concern, something you haven’t encountered in... months? Years? Turning to him, you hesitate on what your answer should be. Do you really want to bother someone like him with your troubles? The Princess always seems really dismissive to small issues unless there’s any real danger to anyone, so who’s to say one of her higher-ranked creations is any more interested in your problems than her herself?

“I... I mean I’m here to see the psychologist but I don’t... well, I think I should be– but, no, I... ugh.” You facepalm and curl into yourself, this is really not your day.

For a minute, there’s no response, and you almost think he might’ve left. For what a loud voice he can have, he’s a master at entering and leaving completely unnoticed.

But, no, he’s still there, because after that one minute you hear him speak up: “Sounds like, mmmm... the voices.”

Raising a brow, you slowly uncover your face. “The voices?”

He nods. “One says lots of bad, nnnnmmm... bad things. Says how horrible you are, a failure, a mistake. And another says... mmmmm... says you’re not anything, and it wants you to be nothing, wannnnts you too... cease your existence. And there are sometimes more, saying other things, and sometimes it’s just one of themmm... Do you have these voices?”

You think about it, and yeah, that all sounds sort of familiar, so slowly, you admit to it. “Yup... sounds about right.”

Lemongrab nods again. “Understandable. Psychologist is a good step, they can teach you not to listen, and mmmm when the voices aren’t listened to, they get, mmmmm... bored. They get bored and leave, and you’ll be better off without them.”

Without meaning to, you breath out the air you’ve been subconsciously holding in your lungs. He sounds like he’s speaking from experience, and you realize he probably is. After all, he used to be two people and his creator slash mother isn’t really all that motherly. “Really?” you ask, and there’s a sliver of hope in your voice.

For the third time, the earl nods. You realize you’ve stopped shaking at some point. It feels like you might start crying, and he hadn’t even done all that much. But in your state, you were grateful for the few words meant to comfort you. “Thank you... so much,” you smile a little, and it probably looks pathetic, but it’s a smile and you hadn’t had an earnest smile on your lips for a while now.

There’s a much less strained smile gracing his features and Shining in his eyes, too, he seems really happy to have helped at least a little. “How long will you be waiting?”

You shrug, uncertain. “They told me just five minutes, I came in a second before you did.”

“Okay, well, mmmm... I’ll wait with you,” he says determinedly.

“Why?” The word escapes your mouth before you can stop yourself.

He eyes you with a puzzled look. “Why not?”

“Surely there’s a reason you’re here, and I’m nowhere near important, really–“

“Mmmmmmmmm stop.” He raises a hand and you shut up, hoping you didn’t accidentally make him angry. But he doesn’t seem angry. “That’s stupid. Don’t be stupid. Sitting alone in a hospital is stupid, it’s unacceptable. You’re not in a state where you can sit alone in a hospital.” After a second, he adds: “Also, my, mmmmmm... mmmmy girlfriend broke her hand trying to steal food from a vending machine, and I’m here to take her home. It mmmmmight take a while so I don’t mind waiting.”

Oh, that’s right, Lemongrab and Lumpy Space Princess were dating. In your opinion, them dating was a perfectly chaotic thing to happen, and what was even more fascinating was that they actually seemed to have a really healthy relationship. At times you couldn’t help but be jealous of such couples. You’d also like to find someone or something that would make you feel... complete.

A nurse called out your name. Raising your head, you suddenly felt a wave of anxiety washing over you again, paralyzing you, making you want to turn on your heel and sprint right out of the building. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. You really should go do your chores, yeah, those sound really great right about now–

A finger poked your cheek. “The voices are the most stupid,” the earl of the lemon people stands up and offers you a hand. “What have they done with their lives anyway?“

Giving a light chuckle, you tentatively accept his hand and with surprising ease he pulls you to your feet. How comes he’s this strong but also this lanky? That’s incredibly unfair. Once you’re both sure you can stand and won’t just collapse, he lets go, and the nurse asks you to follow her. Before you do, you turn to Lemongrab one last time and, since you didn’t properly greet him when you first met, you offered a small bow now that you had the chance. “Thank you so much for your words of reassurance, Your Highness. I’m glad at least someone in the royal family has this much empathy.”

He gives a shrug and a sheepish smirk. “My girlfriend helps. Oh, that reminds me,” he adds, “if you don’t feel good talking to the doctor, holding someone’s hand can help. Or something you like, like a doll... mmmmm or something. Yes.”

“Thank you for the advice.” You want to ask about his voices, do they go away for good? Did his go away already? You hope they did, or that they would with time. He really does deserve to be happy.

And, _oh,_ you realize right then and there. Maybe, if he deserves to be happy... then so do you.


End file.
